Thursday, April 30, 2009

Between yesterday and today zelch has happened!! haha! So here's a bunch of rambling for you :)

After work last night I went to the grocery store and picked up food for dinner and made my wonderful fish recipe, click here, and it was divine! And Melissa can back me up on this, right girl? Then we sat on the couch for a night of TV and feel asleep during the president's address and then miraculously woke back up for American Idol. What did you all think? There is such major talent this year, it's incredible.

Then today was a full day of work and I just got home. Went to the mall after work, and seriously, if you could even call it a mall. I ate some dinner in the cafe court and ran some errands I had to do and let me tell you all, our mall is pathetic. Leesburg, get with it...

Just bulldoze the place down and give us something good. They carry absolutely none of the stores of today. They bring in all these generic places that they can't even keep open. If it wasn't for Target and the movie theater, the place would be a goner. Anyone else stuck with a cruddy mall like I am? haha!! Thank goodness for Orlando not being too far away, ha!

I don't know about you but I'm hooked to those quizzes on Facebook, haha!! As of today...

This engagement ring fits my personality (what girl can argue with this?)...You are quite the individual! Good for you! You value tradition, but welcome change. You are intelligent, witty, sensitive, and have a diverse set of friends. You are as comfortable discussing politics as you are baking cookies. You have strong morals and principals and are respected by others. You have a purpose and it will be realized.

My husband's name will be Scott...You and Scott are both daring, skillful, bright people. You are amazing athletes and cool. You are meant to be together.. (ummmm, I'm so not athletic, so Facebook didn't quite get this right, haha, and hope this doesn't lead to Scott and I's separation, haha)

I'm going to be to the likes of Carol Brady as a mom...You work from home to be close to the kids and love to take part in church functions. You love your husband and enjoy every minute you have with him alone (which is not often).

If I dare say I'm sexy, Doris Day would be my match, ha...YOU ARE DORIS DAY! YOU ARE AN ALL-AMERICAN GIRL . A TRUE SWEETHEART.

And I took the what fruit are you quiz and I'm destined to be a strawberry, which I do love, ha...You're a very sweet and caring person. You are the one that people come to for comfort, a shoulder to cry on. Your friends can trust you with anything~ You have a bubbly personality!

So what do you think? Was it correct? Just go to Facebook if you want your life all mapped out!! haha!!

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

If you have visited the LPM Blog or Angie’s blog, you know that a group of bloggers are over in India right now with Compassion. After reading their daily updates, yesterday I really started having a conviction. My mom and I sponsor a child through World Vision together and we have been for quite some time. I’m ashamed to say that other than of course the monetary sponsorship I have only sent a package once and that was right after we got our sponsored child. Of course I know giving monthly sponsorship is great and very much needed but it’s reaching beyond that to do something more. So my goal is starting next month to try every couple of months to send a package to our sponsored child and to be in continual prayer each day for that precious life that God has given me the opportunity to be a part of. So I encourage you, if you have a sponsored child, look within yourself, as I have had to, and see if you’re doing all that you can be doing, and if you aren’t sponsoring a child, pray about it and see if this is something the Lord is calling you to take part in. I don’t think I fully realized until just recently what a blessing it is to have been afforded the opportunity to make someone else’s life better and give them opportunities that we're afforded each and every day, but for them, it's not so easy! Just something to think about!

It seems to me that God is really moving in the blog world these days. What a powerful tool it’s become. I’ve never in my life seen the power of prayer in all its fullness as I have in the blogosphere. Friendships have been formed, and more so lately I’ve really seen a lot of people taking blog breaks, because as great as this whole thing is, a break is very much needed now and then. I, along with others, LOVE blogging and the friends I have made, but find myself having a hard time with the time management, and I don’t want to let it stress me out so much that I start resenting blogging. If I miss a day here or there, that’s OKAY, who knew, right? And if I haven’t caught up on everyone’s blogs, that’s okay as well. You’ll still love me, right?? It’s just in my nature (don’t know if it’s a nosy nature or not, haha) to want to know what’s going on in your life, to rejoice in the good times, and be in prayer and offer encouragement in the difficult times. And on the days I might not be able to blog, and plain just don’t feel like blogging, that I can be in prayer, just the same, for each and every one of you, on those days when I’m not connected with the blog world. Sounds great right? I’m content in this and just don’t want to be so consumed by it and just want to keep the enjoyment in this that I’ve had from the very beginning!

I think I might have failed to mention this week that I’m off of school for the WHOLE week! YAY! So far it has been incredibly sweet and I have enjoyed it! And last night my sister and I, please don’t laugh, went to go see the Hannah Montana movie, haha! And might I say it was a very cute movie, and I personally have nothing against Miley Cyrus, and others of you might disagree. And yep, my sister and I were the only ones in the theater besides a dad with his daughter, and we found ourselves laughing out loud on some parts, ha! Every now and then it’s nice when a good wholesome movie comes out! Judge me if you must!

So I’m just going to enjoy the rest of this week off and get rejuvenated and geared up for another semester! The end will be near soon, that’s what I’m trying to keep focused on!

Thank you to those who shared with me yesterday in what areas you could use courage, I will be praying for each and every one of them!! :)

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Courage: the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

As I was going about my way this morning, the word courage popped into my mind. So before I even begin this, I pray the Lord will give me the words to speak and maybe this might be for someone today.

At one time or another we’ve all prayed for courage. Praying for courage to fight sickness and disease, courage to fight for a marriage that seems to be on the brink of ending, courage to continue praying for your children that have seemed to have lost their way, courage to keep the faith that all of our bills will be met when our checkbook says differently, courage to get through the pain of losing someone close to us by death, courage to hold fast that God has someone out there for you when it seems like they’ll never come along, I could really go on and on….but I think it’s safe to say that courage is one of the main foundations that get us through as we walk this life.

Sometimes our courage feel like it’s at an all time high and at other times the only prayer we can cry out is “Lord, please give me courage.”

So I ask, have you lost your courage today?

Or maybe you’d say yes, I’ve prayed this prayer once or twice or even a trillion times, then this is for you! I find that even myself, I have tended to underestimate the courage that God has set inside of me. We all have been equipped with the necessary tools to tap into our courage and to get through the messes of this life and come out the other side more courageous!

So today I pray for an extra dose of courage. This is only the beginning, I don’t know what the rest of the day holds, but I do know that no matter what happens that at the end of the day, with courage, much can be conquered.

I need courage to:

* not fear the future* realize that all my needs are going to be meet * to walk in the fullness of all God has for me* to trust God even when I feel like I'm blind and can't always see the plan* to understand that I have no clue what I'm doing, but God does

Monday, April 27, 2009

(How cool is this heart-shaped flower? This is a picture I got at the Biltmore House. More about that in a minute.)

I think it’s safe to say I need a vacation from my vacation, haha! It was go go go the whole time but it was a blast, here’s a recap along with lots of pictures!!

Thursday I got in around 12pm and North Carolina had gorgeous weather the whole time I was there! The Raleigh/Durham area is beautiful. We didn’t do a whole lot Thursday but we did go get pedicures and that evening we just ordered sushi take-out. It was a relaxing rest of the day after traveling!

Friday was an early start to the day! I found a house to move into and it’s called the Biltmore House! That place is gigantic, and it can hold my entire group of bloggy friends, so anyone who wants to move in with me, the more the merrier, haha! We were out the door by 7am for a 3-hour drive to Asheville. We packed our own lunch so when we got there we ate and then headed to the Biltmore and not only that but we got to see the Festival of Flowers, so we couldn’t have come at a better time…. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day and I think it might turn out to be more than a few, ha! And I got some great shots, just call me a photography genius :o)

My new home. It cost a small penny, but totally worth it!!

I have this picture as my desktop background.. B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!!

If you endured all the pictures, bless you!!! There was too many I liked, haha!!! The weather was awesome and VERY hot at the Biltmore. Overall, my Biltmore experience was a GREAT one. Then we had to make a 3-hour drive back home and then we crashed and burned, ha!

Saturday was another gorgeous day and so Jill, her friend Carla, and I, took a two-hour drive to Wilmington, NC, to hang out at the beach for awhile. Yes, I was all over the state of North Carolina. All the way from the west to the east, lol! And then after we left we came back and got ready and went out to dinner with a group of people! Sit tight as you endure more pictures, haha...

Ah, yes, the infamous toe shot. Mine should be easy to spot. I'm the one with the long toe if you don't remember, ha!

So another great day!!!

Then Sunday was the day to leave :o( My plane didn't leave until almost 7pm, so we took our time getting ready in the morning and then Jill showed me around Duke University! This is the beautiful Duke Chapel. Jill told me that there's a 10 year waiting list to have your wedding there. Can you see why???

The campus is absolutely beautiful and the architecture is amazing!!! There's also the Duke Gardens which is supposed to be wonderful but we didn't have time to walk around them and then we drove around some more and then she showed me Duke Hospital where she works. The campus is just huge!!

Then we headed off to her friends house in Raleigh which is close to the airport which worked out perfect because we could just head from there to the airport. And her friend cooked a yummy lunch for us, so definitely wasn't hungry when getting on the plane. Then we had to say good-bye!! :o(

This pretty much sums up the weekend....

Alot of living, laughing, and loving :o)

Hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend. Going to try to catch up with everyone else soon!!!!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I'll be heading to the airport tomorrow morning for a wonderful LONG weekend in North Carolina, and it's after 11pm and I have yet to pack, but important things first, right? ha. I had a baby-sitting gig tonight. You know, got to have a little bit of extra spending money :)

I'm heading out of town at the perfect time because our town is going to be infested with this over the weekend...

It's the annual Leesburg Bikefest. It's a weekend where you're surrounded by bikers from all over and on every side of you on the highway and it's enough to make you nervous out on the road, ha. I can't believe how many people it brings to our little town and it's great revenue for the city and it grows year after year and getting just as big pretty much as the Daytona Bike Week. Pretty soon it's going to have to be held somewhere else in the city instead of being confined to the downtown area, and we have a huge Harley Davidson store, so you can only imagine how packed that is. So nevertheless, glad I'm dodging the bullet when I can, ha!

I'm so looking forward to this trip. I need the break and this trip couldn't have been more timely. There's such beauty in North Carolina and it will do my spirit good and so will the time spent with a good friend. Please just pray that I'll be renewed and refreshed!

I know, I know.... get my behind off the bloggy world and get to packing, you don't have to say it!

Talk to you all when I get back on Monday and will catch up on everyone then!! :)

I would hope that when I look back on my life that I can look back with great certainty that my purpose was served here on earth. That I loved God with my whole heart, loved people, and loved well. I love blessing others. It's much better to give then to receive. I know that there's an amazing God that loves me and will never leave me nor forsake me. There's alot of peace in that when this world can let us down. He's my constant, the one thing that remains the same in this ever changing life of mine. I look towards the future with great hope and expectancy. With hope that God has an amazing path for me, and just pray that my every step will be guided and directed by him as I walk this journey called life!

Thank you for coming by. My hope is that through this page you will find some kind of enjoyment and inspiration. Tell others about it and keep checking in. If you want to contact me my e-mail is LaurenBella6@hotmail.com :o)